Learning To Make Peace
by alice writes stuff
Summary: (High School AU) After three years of fighting, Galinda decides she's had enough, and wants to be friends with unfortunate loner Elphaba Thropp. However, will this decision be worth the price?


A.N- Hey, guys, I'm back with another one-shot. This is also my first Wicked fic, so let me know if you guys like it. I don't own the characters.

Galinda couldn't remember when exactly her feud with Elphaba Thropp had begun, but it was quite serious. Over the three years they'd known each other, they'd done it all. Name calling, pranks, it was a miracle they hadn't had a straight-up physical fight. She could see the horrible green girl now, wheeling her sister Nessarose into the cafeteria. Usually, she ignored her when they were together. It wasn't fair, she didn't ask to have to deal with that. Galinda turned back to her lunch, and was just about to continue eating when her friend Milla nudged her.

"Hey, Galinda, I dare you to throw a chip at Elphaba," Galinda stared at her for a second. She couldn't be serious, could she? Her boyfriend, Fiyero, frowned at them both. He didn't really approve of their feud. She didn't know why, it wasn't hurting anyone. She didn't want to do anything now, but they were all looking at her, wondering why she hadn't done anything yet. She couldn't just let them think she'd gone soft, so she picked up the chip and threw it at Elphaba. It ended up hitting Nessarose instead. Elphaba turned to face them, and she glared at Galinda. The blonde girl couldn't look at her, not even to return the glare. In the end, she just shook her head in disgust and wheeled Nessarose away, even though she was capable of using her arms to move herself around. Really, she was just too over-protective.

Secretly, she didn't want to do this anymore. Really, she was so tired of fighting, but she was scared to stop. Her friends would think she'd lost her edge, they'd think… they might think she… liked Elphaba. It was awful, but that was the way it worked. Anyway, she didn't like her, not in that sense. Even if she did, there wouldn't be anything she could do about it, not if she wanted to keep her friends and social status. Still, she felt like she should do something for her, to make up for what she did at lunchtime. After a moment, it hit her. There was a maths test next week. She smiled, remembering that she was a bit better at the type of maths the test would cover than her green classmate. It was the perfect idea.

Galinda managed to find her in the library. She had her head in a book about Animal rights. It was always something like that with her. She was so weird that way. The blonde sighed, and sat down a few seats away from her. Elphaba glanced up, and when she saw her, she glared.

"What do you want, Arduenna? Are you here to throw something at me now?"

"No," she said, trying to ignore the hostility in the green girl's voice. She glanced around the room before continuing. "I wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to hit Nessarose." Elphaba's expression didn't soften one bit.

"That doesn't make it okay, you know. Firstly, just saying you're sorry isn't enough. Second, whether you meant to hit Nessa or not, it doesn't change the fact that you were aiming to hit one of us. The intention was still there, and it's not acceptable."

"I didn't want to do it in the first place, you know. My friends put me up to it," she knew her explanations probably didn't mean very much, but she had to do something. She couldn't let her think that this was her idea.

"I don't care if they put you up to it. You still didn't have to do it. All that says is that you're just a shallow sheep, who's not the brilliant leader she's under the delusion that she is," Elphaba stood up, but before she could leave, Galinda grabbed her arm.

"Hey, there's a maths test next week. Do you want to come over to my place and study for it?" Elphaba frowned, looking puzzled by what was being asked of her.

"Why do you want to help me? You hate me, and I hate you back. You can't change that now, we've been at it too long." Galinda sighed, knowing she should've expected this.

"I don't… hate you, necessarily. I just… strongly dislike you. Anyway, that's not important. I went too far today, I know that. Let me make it up to you. I promise we'll never speak of this again, if you don't want to." Elphaba looked at her carefully. After a moment, she nodded.

"Alright. I'll be there at five, if that's okay with you?" Galinda nodded, surprised that she was actually agreeing.

She couldn't believe she'd actually managed that. If she was honest, she hadn't expected things to go that well. Of course, she didn't know for sure how well they'd really gone yet. It was five past five now, and Elphaba wasn't there. She tried to tell herself that it was no big deal, that she didn't really care. She couldn't manage it. The problem was, she did care. She wanted to see her. She wanted to make a start on making things right between them. She was just about to give up when she heard a knock on the door. She stood up and went to answer it, and Elphaba was standing there, wearing a black dress and boots. It looked okay with her… unusual complexion, but she really wasn't helping her "Wicked Witch" reputation.

"Come in," she said, holding open the door for her. The green girl stepped past her, and Galinda followed her into the living room, shutting the door behind them. She wanted to make a comment on how rude that was, but honestly, she probably didn't know any better. The poor thing probably didn't get invited to many people's houses. After all, who would want to spend any more time than necessary with a girl whose skin was the colour of broccoli?

"Alright then," she said, sighing. "Let's get this over with." Okay, now that was rude. Galinda was only trying to be helpful here, and that was the way she was being treated? Still, she was trying to make peace here, so she ignored her.

A couple of hours later, they had covered everything necessary for the test. The whole thing had gone far better than either of them had expected, and Galinda was starting to wonder if this could lead into anything. Perhaps not quite in the direction she was secretly hoping for, but at the very least to something a little more positive.

"Do you want to do something like this again sometime?" she asked, as Elphaba was packing up her bag. The green girl frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you want to hang out again sometime? Maybe go see a movie or something?" Elphaba just kept frowning, confused.

"Are you asking me out? Because I really don't think that's going to go well for either of us. Especially since you have a boyfriend, and a lot of friends who won't approve of you dating the school vegetable." Galinda sighed, knowing she should have expected a reaction like this.

"It's not like that. I just want to stop fighting with you and be your friend. I really don't see how that's not okay."

"I don't want to be responsible for you losing everything. This feud is boring me, too, but I'd rather continue like this than give you a fresh reason to hate me."

"I don't care about that, though. Honestly, I don't. If my friends can't accept this decision, then maybe they're not worth my time. Besides, we only have to do it once. If we don't like it, we never have to do it again." Elphaba tilted her head to one side, considering it. Then she nodded.

"Alright. In that case, I don't see any harm in doing it," she paused. "Of course, I should probably warn you that I will take too much popcorn if you don't stop me. So, if that's going to be a problem, say something sooner rather than later."

"It won't be a problem," Galinda said, smiling. "So, I'll see you at the cinema on Sunday? We can decide what movie we want to see then, if that's okay."

"Sounds like a plan." Elphaba smiled, and Galinda couldn't help but notice she had a rather nice smile.

When Sunday afternoon arrived, it was Galinda's turn to be late. It was her own fault, of course. She'd spent far too long trying to talk herself out of doing this. Eventually, though, she'd decided to take the risk. So, wearing her favourite pink dress and jacket, she left the house and headed towards town. Elphaba was waiting for her outside the cinema, ignoring the stares and whispers she was getting from the people around her. By the time Galinda got to her, she had her head down, her hood up and her hands in the pockets of her black coat. Honestly, what was it with this girl and the colour black? She was trying to look inconspicuous, and it worked to an extent. Still, there was only so much she could do. Elphaba had her back to the blonde when Galinda reached her, so she tapped her shoulder. The green girl jumped, and Galinda fought the urge to laugh.

"For Oz's sake, Arduenna! You could've just told me you were there!" She was glaring at her. Great, they were getting off to a fabulous start already.

"You're welcome to call me Galinda, you know! Honestly, you don't need to call me by my surname." Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"Very well then, Galinda. Can we go inside now? The clouds are getting a little too dark for my liking." She nodded, wondering what exactly the problem was there. Galinda wasn't exactly the biggest fan of rain herself, but it didn't look heavy enough for it to be an actual problem. Still, she didn't particularly want to get stuck in it, so she nodded and they both headed inside.

Once they actually got inside, though, she noticed a problem almost immediately. Waiting in the ticket line were Milla, Pfannee, Shenshen and half a dozen other kids from their class. How had she forgotten that they'd all planned to go and see a movie today? She had originally planned to go with them, not with Elphaba. Quickly, she turned to look at her companion. Her face was neutral, her stance normal. If you looked closer, though, you could see the fear in her eyes, the tension in her shoulders, the way her fists were clenched at her side. She was scared, defensive, even, but determined not to let them see. Deep down, Galinda couldn't help but admire her courage.

"Do you want to leave?" She whispered, tugging at Elphaba's sleeve. An innocent gesture, but it caught the eyes of her classmates.

"Hey, Galinda, what are you doing over there?" Milla called over to her.

"Yeah," Pfannee added. "What are you doing talking to her? You're supposed to be over here, with us." Galinda took a deep breath. She could feel the weight of the decision she faced on her shoulders. On the one hand, she could do what was expected of her. Turn her back on Elphaba, and go to join her friends. On the other hand, she could stay with Elphaba, and take a break from her friends for a little while. If she was being honest, this was what she really wanted to do. In the end, her heart won.

"Change of plans. I'm going to watch something with Elphie today. If you've got a problem with that, then keep it to yourself. I don't really care." She realised, too late, that she'd used a nickname to refer to Elphaba. She sighed, knowing how much harder that would be to explain.

"Elphie?" Shenshen asked, clearly amused. "Really, Galinda? I think that awful girl has you under some kind of spell. If you know what's good for you, you'll come away from her right now." She couldn't believe this was happening. This was the exact opposite of what she'd wanted to happen. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Elphaba spoke up, her voice calm, but firm.

"I can assure you I did no such thing to your little leader. She's acting completely of her own free will. Still, if any of you know what's good for you, you'll back off and mind your own business. You can have your leader back shortly. For now, though, let her think for herself, away from your collective hive mind." She smiled, but it was not the same smile she'd given Galinda last night. It was definitely more of a smirk. "Of course, if you lot were really her friends, you'd respect her decision to spend time with whoever she chooses." By the time she finished, they were all speechless. She started to march off towards the exit. Now, Galinda could clearly see her choice. Stay with them and try to fix this mess, or go with Elphaba. Once again, her heart seemed to win, and she found herself running after her new friend.

"You'll regret that, Galinda Arduenna!" She heard Pfannee yell, but she didn't turn around. Soon, she was standing next to Elphaba, who was currently fumbling around in her bag looking for something.

"I don't suppose you have an umbrella? I can't seem to find mine." Quickly, Galinda checked her bag.

"Yes, I've got one. I'm not sure why you need it, exactly. It's not raining very hard, and that jacket does have a hood."

"You don't get it." She sighed. "I'm allergic to water, it burns my skin. In fact, if I got too much of it thrown on me, I might even start melting. At the very least, I'd die a painful death. So, to avoid that, I always carry an umbrella, just in case."

"That's horrible!" She exclaimed, unable to stop herself. Elphaba shrugged.

"I've learned to live with it by now. Honestly, it's not as bad as you'd think. It's only a problem on days like this." Galinda nodded, and pulled the umbrella out of her bag. Once it was open, she handed it over, pulled her hood up and headed out into the rain.

The next day, at school, Galinda wasn't terribly surprised to find that nobody was waiting for her. Probably part of the group's silly revenge plan. They'd be over it soon, but in the meantime she would let them get it out of their system. When she got inside, though, she found Elphaba walking down the hall ahead of her, Nessa rolling along beside her sister.

"Hey, Elphie!" She called. After all, her reputation had already been damaged plenty. There was no possible way things could get any worse. Elphaba turned, but then so did everyone else in the hall. Galinda didn't care. Quickly, she made her way through the crowd to stand with her green friend. She didn't care what anyone had to say, not at that moment. Well, she probably would later, if it turned out her friends had abandoned her for real, but that wasn't the point. The point was, she actually felt happy for a change, and a weird mixture of brave and scared she really didn't know how to describe. She knew things would never be the same again, but quite frankly, she didn't care. After all, change didn't always have to be for the bad, did it?

"You really don't have to do this," Elphaba whispered. Galinda just smiled, and squeezed her hand.

"I know," she replied. "That's what makes me so nice." She didn't know what would happen now, or where this would go. What she did know, was that holding Elphie's hand made her feel lighter than air, and maybe, just maybe, that would be enough. Maybe, this would be worth losing her place at the top, if it meant she'd found this sense of peace.


End file.
